Toilet ventilator



Oct. 29, 1963 i c. v. SMITH I 3,108,289

' TOILET YENTILATOR Filed July 20, 1962 INVENIOR 39 ATTORNEY UnitedStates Patent Oi. Fice Filed duly 20, 1962, Ear. No. 211,305

1 Claim. (Ci. 4---213) The invention relates to a novel ventilating unitfor toilets or water closets and more particularly to a seat andassociated parts for a toilet bowl and which is especially constructedfor attachment thereof to a suction conduitfor extracting and carryingoff foul odors from the toilet bowl. I 7

Still another object of the invention is to provide an improved toiletseat and associated parts which may be utilized as a replacement for aconventional toilet bowl seat and to provide a part of a toiletventilator, which may be very conv'enientlyand inexpensively installedwithout requiring any modification of the conventional toilet bowl. V I

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafterbecome more fully apparent from the following description of thedrawing, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, andwherein:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of the toilet ventilator;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view thereof taken substantially alongthe line 2-2 of FIGURE 1, including additional parts of the ventilatornot illustrated in FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 3-3 ofFIGURE 1, and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIGURE1.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the toilet ventilator in itsentirety and comprising the invention is designated generally 6 andincludes a toilet seat, designated generally 7, having an upper surface8 which is convex.y rounded in cross section, as best seen in FIG- URE2, and a substantially flat bottom surface 9. The seat 7 is hollow toprovide a cavity or chamber 10 and includes a rear extension 11 which islikewise hollow to provide a bore 12 of circular cross section whichextends from end-to-end thereof and which is disposed crosswise of thelongitudinal axis of the seat 7. A passage 13, formed in the seat 7,connects the chamber 10 to the bore 12. The seat 71 includes asubstantially fiat under and inner surface 14 extending between theinner edge of the top surface 8 and the inner edge of the bottom suriace9, which surface 14 faces downwardly and inwardly as seen in FIGURE 2and is provided with a plurality of spaced openings 15 which open intothe cavity 10 and outwardly of the seat 7. The underside 9 of the seat 7is preferably provided with yieldable buttons 16, as is conventional,which are adapted to rest upon a rim 17 of a conventional toilet bowl18, only the upper part of which has been illustrated.

The toilet bowl 13, as is conventional, has a rearwardly extending shelf1 above which is disposed a conventional flush tank it). The shelf 19,as seen in FIGURE 3, has laterally spaced bores 21 extending from top tobottom therethrough.

The ventilator unit 6 includes a hollow or tubular pintle 22 havingclosed ends 23. A port 24 opens radially into the pintle 22 andoutwardly thereof near each end 23. The outer diameter of the pintle 22is only slightly less than the diameter of the bore 12 and theintermediate portion of said pintle 22 fits turnably in the bore 12.Said intermediate portion of the pintle has an elongated opening 25which registers with the passage 13 and which thus provides acommunication between the seat cavity 10 and the hollow interior of saidPatented Oct. 29,1963

2 pintle 22. When the opening 25 is in registration with thepassage 13,as seen in FIGURE 2, the ports 24 are disposed to open downwardly, asseen in FIGURE 3.

Apair of collars 26 embrace the pintle 22 in straddling relationshiptothe rearseat portion 11. A bolt 27.is fixed to .and. extendsdownwardly from each collar 26, said collars being spaced apart adistance relative to one another so that the bolts 27 extend downwardlytherefrom through the. bores .21. The bolts 27 carry washers 28 whichare disposed between the collars 26 and the upper surface of the shelf19, and nuts and washers 29 and 30, respectively, engage the threadedlower ends of the bolts27 and are disposed below the shelf 19 forsecuring the collars 26 irnmovablyto saidshelf.

A pair of collars 31 are rotatively mounted on the pintle 22 andstraddle the. collars 26, said collars 31 having rigid straps 32extending forwardly from their top portions and which are. secured byfastenings 33 to the underside of, the rear portion of a conventionaltoilet seat cover 34, only a fragmentary portionof which has beenillustrated. I t 2 Acap 35 is disposed over one end of the pintle. 22and abuts one of the outer collars 31, for closing and sealing the port24 located in said pintle end, and a similar cap 36 is mounted on theother end of the pintle 22. The caps 35 and 36 extend outwardly from theside edges of the shelf 19, as seen in FIGURES 1 and 3. The cap 36differs from the cap 35 in that it is provided with an outwardlyprojecting nipple 37 which is disposed in registration with the port 24of the pintle end on which said cap 36 is mounted. The caps 35 and 36may be secured immovably to the pintle 22 in any suitable manner, as bymeans of setscrews 38.

An elbow coupling 39 is connected to the nipple 37 and one end of a pipeor conduit 40 is connected to and extends rearwardly from the coupling39 and thence upwardly, as seen in FIGURE 2, and has an oppositedischarge end 41 which opens into a chamber 42 of a housing 43. Saidchamber 42 contains a blower 44. An electric motor 45 is mounted inanother chamber 46 of the housing 43 and has a shaft 47 which extendsinto the chamber 42 and is secured to the blower 44. The motor 45 isconnected to a conventional electric current source 48, such as aconventional electrical outlet, by wiring 49. The motor 45 constitutes atwo-speed motor and a switch 56) is interposed in the wiring 49 formaking and breaking the electric circuit to the motor 45 and forcompleting a circuit so that the motor can operate at either speed.

An outlet conduit 51 leads upwardly from the casing chamber 42 and isprovided with an upwardly opening check valve 52. Said discharge conduit51 may open to the atmosphere or into a flue or other vent, not shown.The electric switch 50 may be located in any convenient position.

Assuming that the seat 7 is in a lowered position as seen in FIGURE 2,with the cover 34 either in a lowered position or raised, the switch 50can be closed to complete an electric circuit to the motor 45 fordriving the blower 44 to create a suction in the conduit 40 and thehollow pintle 22. This will also create a suction in the seat chamber 10for drawing air into said chamber through the inlet ports 15, which airwill be extracted from the chamber 10 through the large opening 25 intothe pintle 22. The air will be drawn from the pintle 22 through conduit40 into the chamber 42 and will be expelled therefrom through the outletconduit 51. When the motor 45 is de-energized the check valve 52 closesautomatically to prevent any back draft through conduit 51 to the casing43. By locating the inlet ports 15 on the inclined under surface 14,said ports will not be visible from above when the seat 7 is resting onthe bowl rim 17.

It will be readily apparent that the seat 7, pintle 22 and the partscarried by said pintle may be readily substituted for a conventionalseat. The pintle 22 is provided with a port 24 adjacent each end thereofso that the cap 36 may be mounted on either end of the pintle 22 forconnection With a vent conduit, such as the conduit 40, located oneither side of the shelf 19.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously beresorted to, without departing from the function or scope of theinvention as hereinafter defined by the appended claim.

I claim as my invention:

In combination with a suction conduit having an electrically drivenblower interposed therein for creating a draft through said conduit; anelongated hollow pintle having closed ends, said pintle having aradially opening port adjacent each end thereof, said ports being spacedequal distances from the pintle ends, fastenings adapted to be securedto a toilet bowl and having collars disposed thereabove in which thepintle is slidably and rotatively mounted, a toilet bowl seat having arear portion journaled on an intermediate portion of said pintle,between said collars, said seat being hollow to define a chamber andhaving a plurality of inlet ports opening upwardly into said chamber,the intermediate portion of said pintle having an opening communicatingwith said chamber, a second pair of collars rotatively and slidablyengaging said pintle and straddling and bearing against said firstmentioned collars, rigid strap members projecting from said collars ofthe second pair and adapted to be secured to a toilet seat cover, capsdetachably mounted on and secured to end portions of the pintle andbearing against the collars of the second pair of collars, one of saidcaps sealing one of said radial ports, the other cap having a nipplecommunicating with the other port and projecting radially from said lastmentioned cap, and a coupling detachably connecting said nipple to aninlet end of said suction conduit at a point spaced outwardly from aside of the toilet bowl so that the interior of the pintle is incommunication with said conduit whereby when the blower is in operationa suction is created in the pintle and seat chamber for drawing air intosaid seat chamber through said inlet ports.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS988,273 Levenhagen et al Mar. 28, 1911 1,794,635 Mills Mar. 3, 19312,079,733 Cummings May 11, 1937 2,297,035 Svec Sept. 29, 1942 2,728,088Gudish Dec. 27, 1955

